Commercial Burglars Caught

On Monday, June 18, 2012, at aprox. 4:45 a.m., Spokane County Sheriff's Deputy Steve Stevens was responding to a commercial burglary alarm near the area of 6100 N. Hayford Road. When Deputy Stevens arrived in the vicinity, he observed a black truck with
a log splitter attached to the back parked on the side of the road facing the opposite direction the alarm was coming from. Deputy Stevens saw a female, later identified as 42- year-old Rebecca Fagerstedt, sitting in the driver's seat.

As Deputy Stevens approached the truck a second subject, later identified as 33-year-old Joseph Thiefault, jumped into the passenger seat of the truck. The truck accelerated past Deputy Stevens' patrol vehicle as if they did not see him. Deputy Stevens activated
his emergency equipment and stopped the vehicle a short time later.

When Thiefault was asked who owned the log splitter, he pointed back towards the area of the alarm and said it was a friends. Thiefault provided a phone number to his "friend" that produced an answering machine. With other patrol units on scene, they followed
Thiefault and Fagerstedt to his "friends" house. Once there, the homeowner did not want to speak with Deputy Stevens.

Dispatch provided a phone number to the shop owner where the alarm had originated. After speaking with the shop owner it was confirmed the log splitter had been stolen from his shop and he did not know Thiefault or Fagerstedt. The shop owner also located a
vintage guitar and case in the back of the truck that was stolen from his shop after he responded to the scene. Fagerstedt denied having any knowledge of the stolen splitter, and Thiefault refused to talk with deputies. Deputy Stevens later found a window
at the victim's shop pried off the building, where the log splitter and guitar had been stored.

• Both Fagerstedt and Thiefault were booked into the Spokane County Jail on charges of 2nd Degree Burglary and Possession of Stolen Property 2nd Degree.